How to find your Uber driver

Company unveils new tools for easy recognition

New Uber tools help riders and drivers find each other. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

New Uber tools help riders and drivers find each other. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Photo: Chris McGinnis

Photo: Chris McGinnis

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New Uber tools help riders and drivers find each other. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

New Uber tools help riders and drivers find each other. (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

Photo: Chris McGinnis

How to find your Uber driver

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To make life a bit easier for both its passengers and its drivers, Uber has come out with some new tech tools in its app to help them find each other in busy urban streetscapes.

For one thing, riders can now use a single tap to send their arriving driver a message about how to identify them by (for example) what kind of clothes they are wearing, or to let a waiting driver know they will meet him in a minute. Think "I'm wearing a red sweater" or "Meet me on the corner instead."

It’s called Pickup Messages, and Uber says it was designed to keep the driver’s eyes on the road instead of on the phone screen. “Your messages are read aloud, and drivers can simply tap to respond,” Uber said.

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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is looking into the claim.

Media: Fortune

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What about crowded venues – e.g., a crazy crowded airport pick up zone or a concert letting out – where a number of riders and drivers might be converging around the same time? With the new Spotlight feature, “you can light up your phone with a special color specific to your driver,” Uber said. “Your driver will receive a message telling them what color to look for, so you can just hold your phone in the air.” (It's the opposite of what both Lyft and Uber do by applying a specific color to the a light on the car's dash, making it easier to spot.)

For those who can't sleep well worried about catching an early ride to the airport, the company now guarantees on-time pickups for customers who schedule their ride in advance. “Our on-time guarantee means your scheduled ride will arrive during the time period you select, or we’ll give you Uber credit towards your next ride,” the company said.

The new features are in addition to earlier app tweaks that let riders edit their pickup location, transmit their real-time location relative to their pickup spot, and look for a colored light in the driver’s windshield when it’s dark outside.

So what do you think? Will you use these new tools in your travels? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.